The 158-Pound Marriage (John Irving) Conclusion

So, Audrey Cannon turns out to be a co-worker that Severin once had an extra-marital fling with.  A betrayal of trust like that casts some doubt over whether his wife, Edith, would realistically have ever considered the arrangement we are reading about now.   Or maybe it’s a contributing factor; hard to generalize women’s feelings on this point.  But Edith is obviously still greatly upset about it.

I mentioned earlier that the technique of “skipping around the timeline” was not my favorite technique used by authors.  The structure of the plot in this book, for instance, has us getting to know the characters in the “present” before showing us some of the more salient features of their pasts, including the shared pasts of the characters as they met and got married.  To me, the skipping-around technique feels like a “red flag” that says, “THIS IS FILLER.”  It’s as if the author, upon realizing that his finished work was going to be a little skimpy, decided to puff up the book a little by giving us amusing anecdotes from the characters’ pasts that really don’t add much to the story we’re reading.  Sure, the back-story can give us a more complete perspective on what’s happening in present time, but do we really care about it at this point?  Wouldn’t it be better to go back and put the “filler” earlier in the story where it chronologically belongs?  Or is it only interesting in connection with what we have already read?  Do some authors agonize endlessly over which passages should be placed where in the narrative, like Beethoven tearing out his hair over whether to add those two extra notes to a melodic phrase?

The other “red flag” that seems to go up when too much back-story is wedged into the plot is the one that says, “This is a more about the character(s) than the ideas/premise like you’d hoped.”  Books about the character or characters are alright, if that’s what you’re in the mood for.  Many years ago, they would sport titles that began, “The Adventures of …” followed by the name of the antagonist.  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was a superb example.  It wasn’t really about a trip down the Mississippi on a raft; it was about the “Life and Times” of the boy it was named after.  One of the earliest examples (I think I read somewhere it may be considered THE earliest) was Don Quixote.  Eventually, authors would just name the book after the character:  Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Tristram Shandy.

I hesitate to go into too much detail about the sexual details of our foursome here (which is one of the reasons for the diatribe above) though it is mostly what the text consists of.  But the predictable outcome of the four-way relationship – the real message the story ultimately conveys – does come home to them with a vengeance.  This would not have been an easy section to write, but it is done about as well as it could be.  Not only The Narrator, but the reader as well, senses the ugliness and pain of the relationships falling apart.  Utch, seemingly the simplest and most emotionally stable character up to this point, is the one that takes it the hardest, and our hearts really go out to her.  We really do see four separate versions of crushing emotional pain as the characters realize it’s over.

What’s the worst that could happen?  Well, murder; but our characters are a little more stable than that.  Divorce?  Utch leaves The Narrator, taking their children, but it’s not clear whether this is permanent.  Hatred?  At one point, The Narrator brings that up; ‘”All this hatred isn’t necessary,” I said.  “Don’t be stupid,” Severin said.  “You’re doing it yourself.  You’re trying to make Utch hate me, and you’ll succeed,” he said cheerfully.   “Just be patient.”’  And, yes, the next to last paragraph seems to confirm it; “Yesterday Utch wrote that she saw Edith sitting in Demel’s eating a pastry.  I hope she gets fat.”

March's book of the month:

“Heart of Brass,” by Kate Cross!

Ladies, if you like Romance Novels, this one’s for you!  The Steampunk element should be a big plus as well! 

"Fabulously entertaining—a great romance in an inventive, believable steampunk world!" — New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens

“Riveting! I couldn’t put it down. I can't wait for the next book!”  — #1 New York Times bestselling author Victoria Alexander

Week 1:  Chapters 1-6

(First post, 3-6-15)

Week 2:  Chapters 7-11
Week 3:  Chapters 12-16
Week 4:  Chapters 17-End


[Watch for a new format in April - a major change in how the club operates! If you have suggestions about how it should be run, now is definitely the time to chime in. Thanks!]